1. Technical Field
This application relates to a beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material, a beverage container filling machine, a beverage container closing machine, and a beverage container packaging machine. The present application further relates to a device for the separation and compacting of articles as described herein below.
2. Background Information
A beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can possibly comprise a beverage filling machine with a plurality of beverage filling positions, each beverage filling position having a beverage filling device for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material. The filling devices may have an apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined volume of liquid beverage filling material into the interior of bottles to a substantially predetermined level of liquid beverage filling material. The apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined flow of liquid beverage filling material further comprises an apparatus that is designed to terminate the filling of the beverage bottles upon the liquid beverage filling material reaching the predetermined level in bottles. There may also be provided a conveyor arrangement that is designed to move bottles, for example, from an inspecting machine to the filling machine. Upon filling, a closing station closes the filled bottles. There may further be provided a conveyor arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the filling machine to the closing station. Bottles may be labeled in a labeling station, the labeling station having a conveyor arrangement to receive bottles and to output bottles. The closing station and the labeling station may be connected by a corresponding conveyor arrangement.
Devices of this type are required inside packing machines to form and/or separate individual groups or articles or articles from article streams that arrive in uninterrupted rows and which are then to be packed in boxes, cases, trays and/or shrink-wrap.
This packing process consists of a plurality of subprocesses, whereby the prior art uses individual machines, or at least individual, self-contained assemblies or modules to perform these subprocesses.
First the article stream, which can comprise containers or commodities of all types such as bottles, bags, cans, boxes, bags etc., for example, is fed to the separating device by a conveyor.
This conveyor is generally a device that is equipped with a wide conveyor belt and is also equipped with guides made of sheet metal, whereby these guides form alleys that are located above the conveyor belt.
These alleys in turn separate the incoming article stream, which initially arrives in an unorganized manner, into rows.
By means of a suitable separating device, this stream of articles standing pushed up against one another in the individual alleys is divided into the desired amount or number of articles, whereby the amount or number of articles is determined by multiplying the number of rows in the direction of travel by the number of rows at a right angle to the direction of travel. The separated rows in the direction of travel, in connection with the rows that run at right angles to the direction of travel, result in the format which is then to be packaged.
To make it at all possible to package the format generated, it is necessary to create a space between the format that has just been generated and the stream of articles behind it. This gap is generally created by continuing to move the stream of articles forward at an unchanged speed, while the format generated is transported onward at an increased speed.
The next step in the process represents what is termed the compacting step, and the purpose of which is to close any gaps that have been created inside the format by the guides and by potential displacements of the articles in relation to one another. For this purpose the format is moved by means of a suitable device through tapering outside guides, as a result of which any gaps produced by the guides are closed. Simultaneously, but also subsequently, the format is pushed off the conveyor and onto a stationary plate, as a result of which any spaces that still exist in the direction of travel inside the rows can also be closed.
An additional important function that is performed during the compacting is the positioning of the formats at the correct intervals and/or the synchronization of the format with the machine clock rate. This function is necessary because repeated displacements in all dimensions can occur as a result of the upward, downward and forward movement of the articles or the format by or toward mobile or stationary device components, as a result of which the format may not be in the location where it is supposed to be according to the planned sequence of movements.
The format compacted in the manner described above is then packaged.
To realize the sequences described above, numerous teachings have been presented in the prior art, although one thing that all the teachings of the prior art have in common is that individual, self-contained assemblies are used at least for the separation and compacting/synchronization, which results in a complex and therefore expensive design and construction.
Devices of the prior art are also very large on account of the numerous modules they comprise.
A device of the prior art was described in DE 695 00 173, for example. On this device, individual series of articles in the stream of articles are first separated by finger-shaped elements that are inserted from below into the stream of articles and are then transported forward. The synchronization device then drops down from above between the separated rows of articles and begins to push and thereby synchronize them.
This synchronization device thereby comprises synchronously driven parallel chains running on both sides of the container flow, whereby a plurality of bars are located on these chains so that the rods run at a right angle to the direction of transport and thus drive and synchronize the articles by their forward movement.
One special characteristic of this device is that, at the beginning of the synchronization, two pairs of chains are engaged with each other, as a result of which each individual row of articles is individually transported by a single transverse bar. After traveling a certain distance, one of the two chain pairs is removed from the article stream, so that during the rest of the travel, only the remaining chain pair performs the subsequent compacting and synchronization, which also means that a plurality of transverse rows (rows of articles at a right angle to the direction of travel) are transported by one transverse bar, as a result of which the actual format is ultimately formed.
One disadvantage of such a device is that the format produced can only be changed by installing or removing numerous transverse bars. Moreover, as a result of the engagement of the two chain pairs and the other design features of the device, not all desired formats can be produced.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,194,382 describes another device of the prior art. On this device, during the separation process, all the transverse rows required for a format are separated directly and all at once from the article stream. In this device of the prior art, the separation is also performed by elements that are inserted into the article stream from below. The synchronization and compacting are done by a chain pair that is located above the transport plane, which is also provided with cross bars. This device also has the major disadvantage that changes to the format can only be made by extensive conversion measures, in particular of the separating unit, where in addition to replacing the chains that are being used, it is also necessary to transfer, move or replace the corresponding chain pulleys.
An additional device of the prior art is described in DE 298 07 979. This device also works with individual components for the separation and synchronization/compacting, whereby a special device is proposed to separate the articles into groups. For the separator unit, instead of the guide plates of the prior art, guide rails are provided, whereby said guide rails are provided in sufficient number that each longitudinal row of articles is enclosed on both sides by guide rails. These guide rails are realized in the form of two complete sets, whereby each set is located in its own vertical plane, and whereby these sets are arranged on two vertical levels, one above the other.
On each guide rail there is a linear sled or slide, which is provided with retaining levers that can be extended and retracted.
Each of these linear sleds is driven by a drive chain that is connected with it, whereby all the linear sleds of one set or on one vertical level are driven and moved synchronously by a common servomotor.
Because the linear sleds of the different sets are located on different vertical levels, they can be moved forward and backward completely independently of one another.
The groups of articles are divided by having a first set of linear sleds with the retaining levers extended realize a forward motion, and thereby holding back the moving article stream with respect to the conveyor belt, which is moving at a higher speed. Simultaneously, a second set of linear sleds with the retaining levers retracted executes a reverse movement.
When this second set of linear sleds has reached the terminal point of the reverse movement, the retaining levers are extended, as a result of which one group of articles is separated from the stream of articles. If the retaining levers are extended, the first set of linear sleds, by retracting its retaining levers, releases the leading edge of the group of articles just formed, so that the group just formed is then transported at the higher speed of the conveyor belt, and a space is therefore formed between the group of articles and the following article stream, which is held back by the second set of linear sleds.
The subsequent compacting/synchronization of the group of articles occurs in a separate device in the known manner.
One disadvantage of such a device is that the stream of articles, which is in most cases already quite cohesive, must first be separated to some extent, because the linear sleds must be inserted between the individual longitudinal rows. Additional problems result from this arrangement, because in the process of compacting, very large gaps must be reduced, which can result in tipping, especially when the articles are sensitive to tipping, which is extremely undesirable in practice.
The processing of articles that have rectangular cross sections also presents major problems, because a continuous external surface is formed when a plurality of such articles are jammed up against one another, as a result of which there is no suitable point of insertion for the retaining lever.
The mechanical complexity and expense of such a device are additional disadvantages.